


i've got you under my skin

by jokesandbats



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with an Angsty Ending, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 09:52:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12814977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jokesandbats/pseuds/jokesandbats
Summary: Nothing foretold that this time, it would be different.That this time, Joker would try something he never had before.Or, the soulmate AU no one asked for.





	i've got you under my skin

The cold wind of Gotham's nights was biting Bruce's face.

He could have put a scarf on before leaving Wayne manor earlier tonight, but he hadn't. Back then he hadn't had the time to think about such trivial things as _getting cold_. He had been more worried about getting the fuck out, before anyone could see him.

He wasn't on patrol tonight. He had been earlier, before the thing happened. Which he wished he could forget, put away somewhere in the back of his mind, so he would never have to think about it again, ever.

But as good as he was at compartmentalization, he couldn't just file that away. 

Earlier tonight he had been in the Batsuit, fighting Joker like he did every other night. But there had been something different, a glint in the clown's eyes that wasn't usually there. They were fighting, knife against fists, fabric against armor. 

Declarations of love against grunts and insults.

Nothing foretold that this time, it would be different.

That this time, Joker would try something he never had before.

It should have been a fight easily won. Bruce had Joker pinned against a wall, hitting him in the chest, in the stomach, in all the ways he knew the clown could take. It had been violent, like it always was. Nothing new there. It was their well oiled, thoroughly repeated routine. He couldn't have known that this night, something would grip, and his whole world would fall apart.

But then Joker had tilted his head up. He had leaned forward. And he had kissed him. 

Bruce had bolted away like he had been burnt. And maybe he had been, because the skin around his mouth was hurting, like it just had been branded. And maybe that was exactly what had happened.

When he had looked up, Joker had been admiring himself in a pocket mirror, and Bruce had seen it.

He had seen the bats all over his face, in a pink shade that clashed against the white skin and the red lipstick. "I knew it," Joker had said to himself. "I knew it!" he had repeated, louder. "We're soulmates!"

Joker had started laughing. And Bruce had fled.

He hadn't been raised in a cave, he knew a soul-mark when he saw one. They would appear at the first skin-on-skin contact and, well, the Batsuit didn't offer much space. He had removed it and put on civilian clothes - he didn't feel like he was allowed to be the Batman tonight, not after unintentionally branding as his the most dangerous man in the entire city.

He had looked at himself, in the mirror of a car. From the corners of his mouth to his ears, his soul-mark looked like barbed wire, forcing his face into a smile forever.

So he had sat down on that bench, letting the wind go through him, looking for some kind of relief in its harsh coldness. But he found none.

He has finally found his soulmate, and his soulmate was the Joker. He clenched his fists, his nails biting into the calloused skin of his palms, with enough force that if they weren't worn out by relentless training they would be bleeding.

He had changed and left the manor, because he didn't want Alfred to know, at least not yet, not while he was still - well not freaking out, because he wasn't surprised really - mortified that he let it happen. And he knew where Alfred hid the whiskey, and he had promised him not to touch it anymore, and he wasn't sure he could keep that promise tonight - God knew he would give an arm and a leg for a glass of scotch. 

And they had so many mirrors there, he couldn't bear to accidentally see his reflection. 

His soulmate was a criminal, he was a murderer, _Jason's murderer_. That was the man who completed him. Bruce had a bitter taste in the back of his mouth. He felt like throwing up.

Because when they were fighting, he had seen it coming. He had understood what Joker was about to do. And he had let it happen.

He could have stopped it, he could have punched him some more, or leaned away. But he hadn't. Because he had been wanting this too, for too long he had repressed his desire, far away, and now -

And now there wasn't any hiding possible anymore. It was branded on his face for everyone to see.

He wasn't worried for his identity. No one would believe the Joker anyway, they would think he faked his mark, burning himself the bat-shaped scars, just another proof of his love for the Bat.

And that was what was eating Bruce from the inside, what was making him sick with disgust, wanting to scratch his skin out with his fingernails, to drown in a bottle of anything with a high percentage of alcohol.

The Batman loved Joker back.

And Bruce would have killed himself rather than acknowledge it. But he couldn't do anything about it now. It was shoved in his face, literally. That despite everything the Joker had done, all the murders, the bombings, the terror he put the city through, the pain he caused to his family, and -  _Jason_. 

How could he even look at Jason in the eye, knowing that despite all of that he still loved Joker.

And Joker was probably still laughing. Bruce knew it. He could feel a door opening in his mind, a door to his soulmate's emotions and feelings, and layered on top of his own despair was Joker's warm contentment. It was everything he ever wanted, Bruce felt. He did his best to close this damned door shut, before the bond could grow deeper and give them both too much of a view in the other's thoughts.

But it was too late, and through the cracks slipped a song, that Joker had been singing to himself and that stuck around in Bruce's head.

_Baby, I've got you under my skin._


End file.
